Bai Yu has done a lot of fishing, including catching very small seafood such as krill, which is also a very small type of seafood.
However, the sense of awe he felt from catching krill was far less than that from catching these anchovies.
Although anchovies are slightly larger than krill, krill have a higher density than anchovies when weighing the same pound.
But for some reason, when Bai Yu looked at the net full of anchovies, he always felt a chill run down his spine, a feeling he had never had when looking at krill before.
Bai Yu made a simple estimate of the catch from this trawl net, and found that there were fish in an area of more than 30 meters along the entire net.
The total weight of this catch is around fifteen tons; it won't be much more or less, it will be roughly around that amount.
In addition, processing these anchovies is generally quite convenient.
After the trawl net is lifted by a crane, it is placed above the unloading port. Then the opening of the trawl net can be opened, and all the anchovies inside the trawl net can be put into the sorting plant inside the ship's hold through the unloading port.
Because anchovies are relatively small, most of them can easily pass through the unloading port and enter the ship's hold.
Only when large fish appear in the trawl net, that is, when predators that prey on anchovies appear and block the unloading port, will a small number of anchovies be left on the deck.
The first step for the anchovies that enter the hold through the unloading port is to be cleaned, removing any dirt or mucus from the catch.
Then they go to the assembly line, where all the seafood that is not anchovy is picked out, while all the sea fish that are anchovies, regardless of size, are packed into boxes and transported to the freezer for storage.
Sea fish that are not anchovies should not be thrown away. Instead, they should all be put together and stored in the freezer.
Another point worth mentioning is that when catching schools of anchovies or pufferfish, there is generally no need to worry about large predators mixing in with their population.
The reason is quite simple: anchovies and pufferfish are simply too small. For large predators, the energy they can obtain from these two types of fish is far less than the energy they expend.
Unless it's a whale, which is different from other predators, it is much larger and has a very large mouth, capable of swallowing many anchovies or bream in one bite.
Among large predators, only whales would likely be interested in these two types of marine fish.
It was obvious that Bai Yu and his team hadn't caught any whales with their net. During the unloading process, the four of them basically just watched from the unloading point and didn't help at all.
It's not that they don't want to help, but that there's no work for them to do.
All the fish caught from the trawl were unloaded into the hold through the fish unloading port, leaving the deck spotless, without a single extra fish.
In the end, of the six crew members working on deck, their captain sent three to help in the cabins.
Currently, the busiest people on the fishing boat are the employees on the assembly line and the crew members responsible for watching over and organizing the products in the refrigerated hold.
If they want to improve the efficiency of the fishing boats, allocating manpower from the deck to the ship's internal workshops is a very reasonable personnel arrangement.
Of course, even with three fewer crew members on deck, the deck will not feel empty or understaffed.
After all, Bai Hao and the others were still on the deck, and they wouldn't just stand by and watch if something happened.
For the first few minutes of unloading the catch, Bai Yu had nothing to do, but as a sea turtle slipped out of the trawl net, their work began.
This sea turtle is quite large, bigger than the pot in Bai Yu's hometown, and its shell is over a meter long, definitely a large sea turtle.
As soon as this creature slipped out of the trawl net, it blocked half of the fish unloading opening. Immediately, a large number of anchovies slid through the turtle's shell and onto the deck.
In no time, the deck was piled high with anchovies. Those anchovies that were not yet dead and still had a bit of vitality were jumping around on the deck, making quite a scene.
Of course, Bai Hao and his crew wouldn't just stand by and watch the anchovies jumping around on the deck. The team leader on the crew side immediately pulled up the trawl net's tow rope.
The goal is to pull the net opening towards the side of the unblocked fish discharge port so that the anchovies in the trawl net can pass smoothly through the fish discharge port and slide into the hold.
However, this trawl net is not so easy to pull. Although the trawl net is currently suspended in the air by the crane, it is still not an easy task to pull it.
Because of this delay, the number of anchovies piling up on the deck increased.
However, what interests Bai Yu most right now is not the anchovies on the deck, but the sea turtles that have just arrived on the deck.
This sea turtle is in a terrible state. Its body is covered with dense barnacles. They not only grow on the turtle's shell, but also on its limbs and head.
Bai Yu even noticed small bulges around the turtle's eyes and nose.
Each of these small bumps has a small hole in the middle, which looks like dead pores. But that's not the case. These bumps are not pores, but parasitic barnacles.
Given the density of barnacles on this sea turtle, if Bai Yu and his group hadn't caught it, it probably wouldn't have been long before the turtle died from barnacle parasitism.
The reason these barnacles parasitize sea turtles is because they want to eat the turtles' flesh and blood; they survive by sucking the turtles' blood and flesh.
While sea turtles do have hard shells, they are only hard; their shells are not indestructible.
Barnacles can still obtain nutrients from sea turtles through their shells to sustain themselves.
Furthermore, as the barnacles on a sea turtle's body grow longer and more numerous, this remains a significant burden for the turtle.
In fact, once the barnacles grow to a certain number, they can weigh down sea turtles, making it impossible for them to swim in the ocean, and they may even suffocate in the sea.
Now, just before this sea turtle died, it encountered the Yuxue No. 9 and was caught in the trawling net and brought aboard the ship.
For other marine creatures, getting on a fishing boat doesn't guarantee a safe return to the sea, but for sea turtles, this isn't a concern.
Some intelligent sea turtles even seek help from humans when they encounter certain limitations.
Now that it has been captured by Bai Yu and the others, it saves the guy the trouble of finding a fishing boat or other vessel himself.
"Ah Hai, go to the cabin and find the ship's doctor. Ask him for some disinfectant, and also bring the toolbox over."
"Shuangzi, Asheng, let's get this sea turtle out of the fish-unloading area together, so it doesn't stay there."
After seeing the crew leader open the net, Bai Yu, along with Li Shuang, Lu Sheng, and several other crew members, pushed the sea turtle out.
This sea turtle isn't actually that big, but the deck near the fish unloading opening isn't very flat, so getting it off the unloading opening is a bit of a hassle.
However, Bai Yu and his group had a large number of people, and with their cooperation, they quickly managed to bring the sea turtle out.
Wang Hai quickly brought over the disinfectant and toolbox.
Bai Yu then opened the toolbox, took out several screwdrivers, and distributed them to Wang Hai, Lu Sheng, and the others.
Then I took a bottle of disinfectant and disinfected the screwdrivers. Next, I poured some disinfectant on the turtle's back to disinfect it as well.
After all the preliminary work was done, they were able to start their work and clean the barnacles off the turtle's back.
This wasn't the first time Bai Yu and his group had done this. The reason he still wanted to do it was because cleaning barnacles was very stress-relieving.
Insert the blade of a screwdriver into the barnacle's hole, then pry it off with a bit of force.
This job is similar to shucking oysters, except that oysters grow on rocks, while these barnacles grow on the shells of sea turtles.
After prying the barnacles off, Bai Yu had no intention of letting them go. In the end, there was only one outcome for these barnacles: they were smashed and thrown into the sea.
After Bai Yu and his team pried off a few barnacles, they would disinfect the sea turtle's shell with disinfectant to minimize the risk of infection.
Otherwise, it would be terrible if Bai Yu and the others worked so hard to pry the barnacles off, only to have them die from infection in their wounds.
However, even if Bai Yu disinfected the sea turtle's shell, it doesn't mean the turtle won't get infected. After all, Bai Yu and the others can't keep the sea turtle indefinitely until its shell is fully healed.
After they have cleaned all the barnacles off its body and disinfected it, they will release it back into the wild. Whether it can survive without getting infected depends on its own efforts.
However, sea turtles are likely to survive, as they are very resilient and have a high capacity for self-healing.
Bai Yu and his companions quickly finished cleaning the barnacles off the turtle's back, and then began cleaning the barnacles off its abdomen and limbs.
Just then, another thud was heard on the deck, as if something had been fished onto the deck again.
Bai Yu looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was the same old place, but there was something new above the fish unloading opening: half a huge sunfish.
Yes, it's half a pufferfish, half of which has been gnawed on. The most important thing is that this guy is still alive!
Whether the sunfish survives or not is not really of much concern to Bai Yu and his crew. The most important thing is that this guy blocked the fish unloading port again, and this time a large number of anchovies slid onto the deck.
It's worth mentioning that this trawl net is no longer the No. 1 trawl net, but the later No. 2 trawl net, as the catch from the No. 1 trawl net has already been cleaned up.
Then Bai Hao and his team had no choice but to temporarily put down their work, pick up the large shovels, and head towards the sunfish.
This sunfish is bigger than a sea turtle; if there were fewer people, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Finally, with the combined efforts of the four of them and two other crew members, they managed to push the pufferfish off the deck.
They just pushed it off the road without a second thought, since sunfish aren't worth much anyway.
Then Bai Yu returned to the sea turtle's side and continued cleaning the barnacles.
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